I recently made a short "film", more of an experiment, really. It is all motorcycle racing and I have used 3 different songs (or parts of songs). I have given some of the copies to friends and some of the racers that I filmed. I'm concerned that word will get out and people who own the music will want to sue me. The film is only 10 minutes, do you people think it's really a problem? I'm only passing out about 10 copies for now.
Thx!
In short, yes, you are violating copyright law as you do not have a synchronization license for the music you used. You could be sued and if so you would lose.
On the other hand, your not selling it and you have a limited number of copies. Treat it like the candy bar you stole form the dime store in grade school, you probably won't ever be caught but don't do it again.
In the future you should check around for a local band or music guru to provide sounds, they love exposure and would even do it for free. Both ASCAP and BMG have more information on synchronization rights. Often the fees are much lower then you would expect, especially if you're making less than 50,000 copies.
I'm not a lawyer but I play one on TV. 🙂
You can also get royalty free music you can use for whatever you want from places like DigitalJuice.com - it's not cheap, but it's all yours to do with however you want as long as you live.
